Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Marital bond unravels

It has been reported this week that Bond girl Gemma Atherton's marriage has sadly broken down. It is understood that her marriage lasted just three years. Short marriages are not uncommon. Here at Pannone we often meet unhappy spouses who realise that their relationship is not what they hoped it would be when they walked down the aisle a year or two before. The division of assets and sharing of income following a short marriage can involve considerations that would not ordinarily come into play after a long marriage. After a long marriage, the starting point of the court is an equal division of the assets and the contributions that each spouse made throughout the marriage, for example, as homemaker or breadwinner are largely ignored. However, following short marriages respective contributions are likely to receive more scrutiny from a judge when determining what a fair division of the assets would be. The court’s approach to the division of assets on divorce is discretionary and there is no fixed formula setting out what each party should receive. It is important therefore to seek divorce advice from a specialist Family Law solicitor as the earliest opportunity, regardless of the value of your assets.For more divorce advice follow our family law blog or follow us on Twitter@Divorce_experts.